You see, back in 2000, I worked in a food factory as a supervisor. I was newly graduated with my degree in Nutrition and the job was the only way to get money without extorting my parents. The pay was great, with only five hours of work.

I was in charge of the evening shift, starting from 6.30 pm till 11.30 p.m. There were only six men…. oh okay, boys under me, all lowly operators with no great skills. Our job was to cut tapioca roots and prepare them for cooking. The tapioca fritters produced by this factory was phenomenally delicious, but still young for the market. The product was very new and still under development.

I am proud to say that the manager was happy with my job – really happy. Me, with my six men crew, produced TWICE the output than the day shift, which was THRICE our number. Yes, seven guys produced twice the amount of tapioca fritters than the whole day crew of eighteen men strong. And we worked in lesser hours than them too!

The secret to my success was by giving the men what they want, as long as they remember to work hard and on schedule. I admit that I am an anti social from birth, but to make it happen, I had to befriend my co-workers, talk with them and of course WORK with them. Sometimes I felt like a stupid supervisor who never supervise but work with the lowly peons at that factory. Cutting and dicing the tapioca before cooking is hard work, and there were tonnes of the damn roots!

Anyway, let’s get to the baddies of this true story. My success with my men was the thorn at the sides of the three OTHER supervisors of the day shift. Reasons to hate me were many; 1. They hated me because I created better results with fewer manpower in lesser time.2. I have a degree in Nutrition. They only graduated from secondary school. They thought I am after their job. 3. The little men and women of the factory liked me better because I worked with them, and not sitting in the office all day like some people.4. The three supervisors were Chinese, and they have this superiority complex about me not being one of their own. etc. I knew I was better than the three of them combined, but I never rub it against their filthy noses….

So, these three evil supervisors ganged up and met the manager of the factory. They told the boss how uncooperative I was to them (dammit, they always speak in Chinese!! How am I supposed to join the talk). They also slandered me by telling lies about me letting the men slack at work etc etc. These three would not want to work with me under the same roof.

The manager was a very wise man, and he knew that most of the accusations were false. But he had to keep these three sons-of-dog-of-female-persuasion because, believe it or not, they were the Director’s relatives!! Nepotism at the very best here.

Anyway, to cut the story short, I was given the sack, with two months payment in advance. The manager was so sorry to see me go, but… Hell, I understand how he felt. It’s hard to make the people up above happy.

But that’s not it the end of this tragic tale…. A week after that, I met one of ex-worker at a night market in town. Expressing my surprise to see him there, not working, he said that he quit – that THEY ALL QUIT the factory after receiving news about me getting fired. All means EVERYBODY, including the day crew.

They all hated the snobbish supervisors anyway.

I am happy to say that the factory had ceased to produce food, the supervisors sent to work somewhere else and now, another company took the building for construction business. The experimental food product is no more.

The phrase above was always used by me and a dear pen pal of mine in our letters (yes, LETTERS, ink and paper) back in the good old day of postal-delivery communication. My friend, the esteemed Kirk Wines of Escondido, CA had fallen from the grid and I missed him so much because he was the first REAL and best pen friend and ICQ buddy I ever had. We wrote gargantuan amounts of letter to each other...The phrase came into mind when I was away from you guys (yes you, the one reading this entry) for two weeks.I have my reasons, not that I purposely wanted to be away from the net too long. The first reason was, my sister's wireless internet modem was struck by lightning two weeks ago, and I couldn't steal her service anymore because she decided not to fix her modem. And as I had long neglected my own broadband service, they BLACKLISTED my pretty name and refused to connect the service even after me paying my due. Oh well, and to make things worse, the free wireless internet at school was also faulty, some problems with the cables and stuff.So I had to fork more money to buy a NEW broadband modem from ANOTHER service provider to be online.

Yay for capitalist business competition!Let's do some pic-blogging!!

My two broadband modems... I am using the new one, below. As for the dastardly service provider Celcom, I'd cancel my business with you this week. You evil telco you!

Some of my rings... My rose gold ring, which was given by my mother sometime in 1994 lost its jade piece this week. Damn! It's hard to find a replacement that fits. (I also have the One Ring replica).

My mom had the entire 'bush' of her flower plants uprooted for a new front gate. Deforestation at its minor best.

33 pounds of premium cat food for my cats and ferret. They will not starve these few months, oh no they don't.

My very fat, beautiful and adoring female cat, Kiki. Her new roommate, Kiko is almost impossible to hold without a fuss. I love this cat. (Ferrets pic not taken because they had too much attention already)

My with a friend. We were celebrating his 22nd birthday at a Korean buffet restaurant. Some teachers said now I look like some expensive gigolo with my new shorter hair. I take that as a compliment :)

My birthday present for my friend, Firdaus - Iron Man Mark VI. He said he loved the movie. I'd like to have this as my own but the darkness in me reminded that I should have no truck with good guys.

His birthday cake.... Small, functional and delicious.

A scene at the Sunday market this morning. I cannot find any of my fav dishes because I was a tad late. Hurm...

p.s - some of the pictures were taken using my mobile phone. So they are not of the best quality. Hope you enjoy them. Do ask if you wanna see more pics that interest you.

16th May, it's Teachers Day! My heartfelt love to all the teachers who ever taught me, especially those who amused me, gave me more than enough attention, and inspired me to be one of their kind - one heck of a radical teacher. I was blessed to study under the wings of some of the best teachers in the country.

Anyway, I am waiting for tomorrow.... as our Teacher's Day festivities will be celebrated in school on Monday. Every year I never fail to get the most presents from students. Most of my classes will provide and even some former students of mine who has already left school will send gifts to me.

Gosh, I am super popular...

The secret to this success is; I do ask them directly."What are you going to give ME this Teacher's Day?"

Call me someone with the altruism of a cat, or a shameless adult, but if you never ask, you will never get, RIGHT? It's not like I'm forcing them to give me stuff, as I never accept expensive things from students. Believe it or not, I am TEACHING them a lesson many other teachers REFUSED to teach.

If you don't give something, You can never get anything.

And then the lot of you gasped and tore your thinning hair off your scalps - Are YOU teaching youngsters how to bribe?!!! The nerve! The scandal!

Yes and no. But that's life. If you don't give your best, you can never achieve your goal.If you never appease your boss, you will never get that promotion.If you make your colleagues hate you at work, they will never cooperate with you.If you act like the dumb-ass you really are, nobody will want to play with you. If you don't give her flowers and chocolates, you will never get her kiss / into her bed / some extra marks / to know her so you can really start dating (pick your fav) etc etc. The list can go on and on.

I bet when tomorrow ends, the usual comments will be aired without fail like every year; "How he did it?Oh you don't know he's forcing the children to give?By God, look at that mound of gifts on his desk! I've been teaching in this school twice longer than him, yet I get so few...."

I never said I was nice and handsome. But being so bloody fascinating can make students attached to you (and remember you for ages, something to tell the grandchildren). That makes me truly LEGENDARY, eh Rock Chef? :)

Uniqueness rules!

p.s. - Will post the pics of the Teacher's Day celebration soon :) And I think "Fairy Oddparents" is cool. Yay for Crocker!

My mom knows that I am difficult to be close to strangers, and that I am a loner.My closest friends know that it does not take much to make me happy, and it also takes very little to make me angry too.I try to separate my social life and work the best I could. My best friends and work colleagues are never in the same orbit of existence.I do try to make new friends online - and unlike many people who do hook-ups, I always tell the truth about myself. Wise men said; superb liars have excellent memories. And as lazy as I am, I try to remember as little as possible.Back to the significance of the title above.... Whenever I strike a conversation with a stranger; either in a chat-room or real life, if I like him / her, I'd become extremely 'chatty'. I don't normally boast or gossip with strangers, and ALWAYS, yes always ask their opinion in any subject matter.Some would say that I was too good to be their friend.....Some even admitted that they were quite afraid of me (like a guy yesterday, not like I wanna do anything bad, we just talked). Does it hurt to befriend someone who speaks the truth about you?Do they really enjoy being served with daily little lies like canapes on a tray?Were they intimidated by a superior (and evil) mind?

Sometimes I wonder why humans behave such way. It is the truth; a true friend is harder to find than pearls amidst the sands. Should I wear a mask (i.e. act) to become the monster friend they can handle?

This morning during assembly, there was a prize rewarding ceremony for the winners of last week's 'Science & Mathematic Week' various competitions (I was too busy last week to blog about it). I forgot to bring my camera, and borrowed a fellow colleague's instead - I was the designated cameraman.

His camera was smaller than mine, yet more powerful.... I hate my life :( [ixus 12.1 megapix versus Sony 8.1 megapix] But this is not an entry about my gadgets are....

As I was calmly snapping many pictures at the rostrum, in front of the rest of the school, I noticed something I had seen before, but at that particular time, was so perplexing.

I had become a mini sun, orbited by many tiny flying organisms.... There are insects flying close and around me ONLY!

Before any of you scream foul things like ; ZOMBIE!!!You CURSED UNDEAD You!! Or You just STINK (when was the last time you had a bath)!! the insects were not flies or any of its relevant cousins. They were just fruit flies and some black bugs very much like bees (because I always see them among flowers).

My first thought was really; Do I really smell bad? (yes, ha ha ha to you too). I seldom wear perfume and if I do have the stench of rotten fish, the students (ah you know kids these days...) would say so - immediately. So cross that out.

My next idea was.... I remember that some animals and insects can produce pheromones, the chemical that attracts the opposite sex. Wow! Do I really OOZE sexual aura in the megawatt range? WOW!

I had to rule that out too when the Principal gave me the eye; as mine were unfocused, plus a weird grin with living satellites zooming around me.

Oh well... that's one mystery of the universe that I cannot find the answer to. :)

It's Saturday afternoon and I got nothing better to do than brooding at home. I washed my clothes, folded some trousers and watched reruns of 'The Nanny' on tv to kill time. My mom (who is in the capital city for 3 months with my younger handicapped brother) will return next Monday.... and the house is a mess.

The house is too big.... I hate sweeping, so I will not do it. But the floors in the kitchen and in front of the bathroom are a bit sticky.... I need to buy a new mop (I will not use the old traditional type, where you have to wring the damn thing before use).

I drove to my bff house with my ferrets because I felt lonely. He's a big guy (can easily imagine him joining the Biggest Loser reality series) very funny, and loyal - a couple of qualities I always treasure in a friend. We went to the beach near his house and I took out Kaos so he could play in the sand. Cannot bring Disco along, two ferrets are impossible to babysit at the same time.

*Sigh* I love my home state - she got everything. Even though it's much smaller than many, Malacca boasted everything one could desire. Beaches (so near), virgin jungles, mountains to climb, more historical sites than any state, the biggest shopping malls in South east Asia etc. I am glad I live here, and I will not budge for any greater pay.

Last week another friend and I spent the weekend beside the only freshwater dam in the state. It was beautiful. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera :(

Anyway, my friend and I had fun talking at the beach, while keeping an eye on the happy ferret in the sand. I like to go out in threes, and rarely go out alone or with only ONE friend. I believe in the magic of the number three. Laugh all you want, I am not superstitious, and only believe in logical explanation; Alone - you have no social life.A couple - a target for vicious gossips. Threesome - normal outing with friends! Foursome - the more, the merrier!!!

On my way back, I stopped at a supermarket to find the mop. It wasn't on sale. Damn.

The beach. It wasn't a looker, yet it wasn't that bad either.

My friend Adi. He lives very near the beach. A place I like to hang out when I don't feel like going cosmopolitan.

Special pose by Kaos the Ferret. A much mellow fellow than the feisty Disco.

Yours truly in shabby clothes @ hobo mode. I don't care what people think even if I am under-dressed.

I teach Science for almost 8 years now. And I am a bloody good Science teacher too - meaning I can make students understand and REALLY remember the difficult concepts and by that, pass tests if they are willing to learn (but I cannot make ALL of them study, I am not SUPER-TEACHER after all).

I taught Physics too for 6 years, and I am quite proud to say that EVERY student of mine passed their final exam; I do aim for quantity (0% failure), quality will depend on the students themselves. I love teaching Physics to the brighter students but.... the crop that was presented to me is mostly mediocre.

Last year, it was decided that I did not have to teach Physics anymore because a more capable (and older) teacher had arrived. But this week, almost 4 months after that decision, I might have to teach the subject after all. You see, the new Physics teacher was given a new timetable to teach ONLY the English subject. It wasn't her fault (she's a dear old girl), ANOTHER English teacher was transferred to a different school, and the lack of expertise in the subject matter made few choices of candidates.

But that's not the exciting news of the week... I was also asked to teach English to the lower forms! The offer was sudden, and at first I thought that it was a naughty joke. But when the offer was repeated thrice, I'd say - wow! I never said no, because English is not a difficult subject for me. My favourite subject was English in boarding school (1991-1995).

So, next week I will add Physics again (and lose my Civic classes) to my Science teaching schedule. Of the English subject classes, the matter isn't really decided yet. But I am not someone who backs away from a challenge. I do want to introduce them to how a Science teacher teaches English in class.